Calls for Entries

We’re Seeking Miss Subways 2024!

Miss Subways 2024
Friday, May 31, 2024, 7-11 PM
Coney Island USA Sideshows by the Seashore Theater (1208 Surf Ave)

We’re looking for our next Miss Subways!

The City Reliquary invites applications to compete in its 2024 Miss Subways event on Friday, May 31, 7:00-11:00 pm. We’re thrilled to partner with Coney Island USA once again at that historic nexus of the weird and whimsical, Coney Island USA’s Sideshows by the Seashore Theater.

This year we’ll also be wishing the New York City subway system a happy 120th birthday!

Are YOU Miss Subways 2024?

This year, contestants will compete in THREE CATEGORIES evaluated according to creativity, originality, and skill:

  • Costume (new for 2024!)
  • Talent
  • Interview

Application open now! Submit by 11:59 pm on Tuesday, May 7, to be considered.

Apply to be Miss Subways 2024

Last year’s performances included a dance by a mad scientist with Doc Ock arms, a dizzying hula hoop routine dedicated to the 7 train, and a subway-inspired rendition of “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line. Read more about the 2023 City Reliquary Miss Subways event from Brooklyn Magazine. Previous Miss Subways events received coverage from Atlas Obscura and The New York Times, among other outlets.

MX MAD SCIENTRESS at Miss Subways 2023. Photo by Matt Josephson (@matty2jay).
Lena Horné at Miss Subways 2023. Photo by Matt Josephson (@matty2jay).

About Miss Subways

The City Reliquary Miss Subways updates the historic “Miss Subways” beauty contest held in New York City from 1941 to 1976 (and resurrected once by the MTA in 2004) for the 21st century. The City Reliquary event expands on the progressive history of Miss Subways as the first racially integrated beauty competition and invites contestants of all gender identities, body types, and ages 18+ to apply. The first City Reliquary Miss Subways was presented in 2017.

Contestants representing their subway line of choice compete for the prized title of Miss Subways and the transit tiara. A panel of local celebrity judges will evaluate their costumes, their answers to subway-themed questions and their talent show performance to determine who will represent NYC straphangers as the next Miss Subways!

Miss Subways 2017 Lisa Levy. Photo by Brian Zak for the New York Post.

The winner will join an illustrious lineup. Past winners of the City Reliquary Miss Subways are artist and comedian Lisa Levy (Miss Subways 2017), urban planner Parker MacLure (Miss Subways 2018), musician and director Dylan Mars Greenberg (Miss Subways 2019), and marketing pro by day/costumer and performer by night Harmony Hardcore (Miss Subways 2023–the first since the pandemic). 

Event details for 2024, including the celebrity judge panel, coming soon!

About Coney Island USA

Coney Island USA exists to defend the honor of American popular culture through innovative exhibitions and performances. Presenting and producing exciting new works, our approach is rooted in mass culture and the traditions of P.T. Barnum, dime museums, burlesque, circus sideshows, vaudeville, and Coney Island itself. Preserving and championing a set of uniquely American visual and performing art forms, we seek to create an international forum for cultural preservation and discourse, and where Coney Island represents these impulses, we strive to make it once again a center for live art and entrepreneurial spirit. Learn more at  https://www.coneyisland.com/. Follow on Instagram at @coney.island.usa and on Facebook at @coneyislandusa.

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Seeking Submissions for Wonder Women Zine! Deadline April 18, 2022!

Black and white illustration of a fist holding a coiled rope and wearing a dark armband
Wonder Woman-inspired illustration by Leslie Lanxinger

The City Reliquary Museum, in collaboration with Desert Island, is conducting a call for submissions of artwork and creative or academic writing related to or inspired by the popular icon, Wonder Woman.  

Submissions will be considered for inclusion in a 32-page comic book, edition of 2000 titled “Wonder Women: NYC’s Heroes of Heterodoxy.” Edited by Desert Island founder, Gabe Fowler and City Reliquary founder, Dave Herman; it will serve as a companion piece to the museum exhibition of the same name on view at the City Reliquary Museum beginning in June 2022. The comic book will be distributed free to supporters of the City Reliquary and Desert Island, and to select comic book dealers throughout NYC. Selected contributors will receive 10 free copies of the publication.

Other contributors to the museum exhibit and limited edition comic book include:

  • Trina Robbins; artist and author, The Legend of Wonder Woman, and It Ain’t Me Babe
  • R. Sikoryak; artist, The Unquotable Trump, and Constitution Illustrated 
  • Robyn Smith; artist, Nubia: Real One, and Wash Day Diaries
  • Tim Hanley: author, Wonder Woman Unbound, and Betty and Veronica: The Leading Ladies of Riverdale
  • Noah Berlatsky: author, Wonder Woman, Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics 1941-1948
  • Karen Green; Curator for Comics and Cartoons at Columbia University
  • Andy Mangels; author, editor; Gay Comix, founder/curator; Wonder Woman Museum 

The publication and exhibition will address additional themes integral to the Wonder Woman comics and their surrounding NYC history including:

  • Early 20th century birth control pioneers
  • Underground and Gay Comix 
  • 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-generation feminists 
  • BIPOC representations in comic art 
  • NYC protest activities including women’s suffrage parades, pride parades, the BLM movement
  • Women’s, Transgender, and Queer liberation.    

More about the museum exhibition:

For over a century, all across New York City, the women behind the fascinating evolution of Wonder Woman have rejected social norms and fought tirelessly to break the chains of orthodoxy in its many forms. Beginning with the suffrage movement in Greenwich Village and the nation’s first birth control clinic in Brownsville, the character’s unique history grew to span a polyamorous triad at Columbia University, a mental health clinic in Harlem, a Lower East Side bohemian boutique, the United Nations Building, and Black Lives Matter protests throughout the city. Explore the remarkable women who inspired the triumphant and troubling journey of America’s favorite female superhero in the City Reliquary Museum’s exhibit: Wonder Women: NYC’s Heroes of Heterodoxy. 

Submissions should be received by Friday, April 18th 2022.

Email submissions to: [email protected]

Text: No more than 500 words.

Artwork: Single page or 2 page spread. Final artwork should be 6”x9” per page 300 DPI resolution, black and white or CMYK, pdf or jpg format.

Download submission call sheet with specs:
Download


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Be a part of the our exhibition, “NYC Trash!: Past, Present, & Future”!

Jacob A. Riis, "Italian Home Under a Dump," ca. 1890. Museum of the City of New York (90.13.1.208)

Jacob A. Riis, “Italian Home Under a Dump,” ca. 1890. Museum of the City of New York (90.13.1.208)

CALL FOR EXHIBITORS:
NYC Trash! Past, Present, & Future

The City Reliquary invites proposals for its upcoming exhibition, NYC Trash! Past, Present, & Future, which will open in October 2017 and run through April 2018. From Jacob A. Riis’s images of 19th-century squalor to plans for waste management in the 21st century and beyond, this show will explore the diverse ways that New Yorkers relate to and deal with their trash.

Waste management experts, collectors of NYC Department of Sanitation ephemera, enthusiasts of reuse/recycling, and anyone invested in the past, present, or future of trash in New York City are encouraged to submit their ideas. Contact [email protected] with your name, phone number, and a brief description of your exhibit idea including any AV and/or size & space requirements.

The curators are particularly interested in contributions that address projects related to reuse and recycling and how the city must deal with its waste in the future, but all proposals will be considered. The deadline for submissions is August 14, 2017.

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Bicycle Fetish Day 2017 Registration Form

SIGN UP AND SAVE THE DATE!!
BICYCLE FETISH DAY 2017
Saturday, June 24, 12-6 PM

The City Reliquary Museum is proud to present its 13th annual Bicycle Fetish Day! Our block party for bikes will take place on Havemeyer St. between Hope & Grand Streets on Saturday, June 24.

To reserve a booth, submit your information below and pay the deposit through Artfully (see Event Details below). We’ll accept submissions through Friday, June 16. For a mention in our press release, please respond by Friday, June 2.

Event schedule TBA

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Event Details

Booth Deposit:
An early registration fee of $40 will reserve your booth space and help support The City Reliquary. Booth space includes 10 x 10′ of curbside space, one 6′ x 3′ table, and one folding chair.

To pay the fee, go to our Artfully donation page and type $40 in the “Other” field. Be sure to note “Bike Fetish Day” in the Special Instructions area of the Checkout page.

Early registration ends after Friday, June 2, at which point the registration fee will be $50.

The fee is waived for nonprofits, cyclist clubs, and advocacy groups, but all Bicycle Fetish Day participants must register.

Participant Rights & Responsibilities:
Merchandise will remain in the care and protection of its owners.The City Reliquary is not responsible for any damage or loss. The owner understands that photo documentation may be taken of his/her booth and used for press and other promotional purposes. 

Booth set-up will happen between 10:30 and 11:30 AM on Saturday, June 24. Displays must be packed up by 7 PM.

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NYC related art and souvenirs

The City Reliquary is looking for New York-related artwork or souvenirs designed by New York artists to sell in our gift shop. If you know of any work that might be appropriate, please drop us a line: [email protected]

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Call for Entries – The Annual Tribute to Our City Window Display – Deadline 8/31/06

Each year, the City Reliquary presents a special collection gathered from the people to correspond with the “September Tribute to Our City” event. This is a collection of objects that represents the memories of New York by the people who love to call it home. This year we are calling on you to submit an object on loan to the NEW & Improved Community Collections windows during the month of September.
This year’s theme will be:
“Remembering New York”
We would like to ask all of the collectors in New York (and that IS everyone) to look over the objects they hold dear to themselves as reminders of the New York they know and love. September has become a special time of reflection in New York and we would like to share some of the ways we remember this city.
Requirements:
SIZE: Please keep your object(s) within the limits of a 2 foot square. If you have questions about an object larger than this, please call the museum at 718.599.0134 (after 8/2/6). We may be able to accommodate larger pieces on loan in the museum.
RELEVANCE: The object can be anything you wish and as obscure, mundane or obvious as you see fit. The only requirement is that it is something that reminds you of New York City and why you are proud to call it home. You can see some examples on our website.
SUBMIT: Bring your objects to the City Reliquary Museum, 370 Metropolitan Av. at Havemeyer St. by THURSDAY, AUGUST 31st. Museum hours are Thursday & Friday 6pm-9pm and Weekends 12-8pm. Or call, 718.599.0134 (after 8/2/6) for special delivery or pick-up options. Your object will be on display through mid-October. You will be asked to provide contact information when you drop off the object so that we can contact you for pick-up when the show ends in October.
SPREAD THE WORD: Please invite all of your friends to submit object with you. Group packages are welcome. We are looking to display a very diverse collection.

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Bicycle Fetish Day 2006 Vendor Form

We need you!!
Calling all bike shop owners, club leaders, food vendors, musicians, etc.
We are looking for you to participate in Bicycle Fetish Day 2006. For more information please download the Vendor Form. We’ll have a new form up soon, but for now you can use last year’s:

Download File

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